West Canton, NC
How exposed is West Canton to wildfire?
Out of every US place USFS scores, West Canton lands at the 73rd percentile for wildfire risk to structures — well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a figure built from its 837 buildings, not the land around them. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts West Canton at the 77th percentile, close to its 73rd-percentile risk score.
Where West Canton's buildings actually sit
Direct exposure dominates in West Canton: 67.3% of its 837 buildings, versus 32.7% Indirect and 0% Minimal. Clearing space around a structure changes the outcome here more than any single building-material swap.
How West Canton compares
West Canton scores 73rd nationally and 74th within North Carolina — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, West Canton ranks 8,577 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 13,284 by building count (1 is largest). Within North Carolina alone, it ranks 205 of 772 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for North Carolina on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
West Canton's 73rd-percentile, high rating is the kind of score behind a broader national pattern: insurers pulling back from the highest wildfire-risk markets, non-renewing or declining new policies outright, most visibly in California. Shopping around, not assuming automatic renewal, tends to matter here.
Hardening a home in West Canton
West Canton's 67.3% Direct-exposure share means lot clearing around the structure typically outweighs any single material upgrade here. The home-hardening guide ranks the options for a place shaped like this.
Where West Canton's figures come from
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 837 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for West Canton. The exposure-zones guide covers what West Canton's dominant direct exposure actually means, with real examples from across the dataset.